I'm not feeling tv in general, so it's hard for me to get excited about it.

Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:08 pm

BandiniWIZARD APPRENTICE

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 4669
Location: jerk city

The first two episodes were relatively slow, but that's understandable with a new world and that number of characters to introduce. I'll probably end up liking the series, but I wasn't impressed with the season's start. Not enough fucking wizards.

My ambivalence towards the series might have something to do with how much I like The Killing. That pilot was one of the best series openers of all time and the subsequent episodes have been really solid. It gets my vote for the best drama on TV.

Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:54 pm

AdamBomb

Joined: 05 Mar 2004
Posts: 3183
Location: Louisiana

This is the shit. HBO knows how to bring it, usually, but I didnt know they could go this direction. Awesome scenes and story telling. My favorite character is the dwarf (nothing but lulz). You know this is building up to be on some epic war battle steez.

Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:18 pm

box johnson

Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 1123
Location: Denver

My girlfriend was displeased with the large amount of graphic raping that seemed to be occurring.

Other than that, we both thought it was pleasant.

Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:40 pm

Flossin

Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 611

This may seem like a silly question but I can't help it: what happened to the albino direwolf? Did the bastard guy (I don't yet have all their names memorized, sorry) take it with him to the wall?

Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:29 am

Hellen Earthcould be a girl. could be a guy.

Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Posts: 1285
Location: Fitchburg, MA

Flossin wrote: This may seem like a silly question but I can't help it: what happened to the albino direwolf? Did the bastard guy (I don't yet have all their names memorized, sorry) take it with him to the wall?

Unless they deviate from the book the albino direwolf Ghost plays a pretty big part as the series progresses.

Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:58 am

icarus502kung-pwn master

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 11291
Location: ann arbor

Hellen Earth wrote:

Flossin wrote: This may seem like a silly question but I can't help it: what happened to the albino direwolf? Did the bastard guy (I don't yet have all their names memorized, sorry) take it with him to the wall?

Unless they deviate from the book the albino direwolf Ghost plays a pretty big part as the series progresses.

Ha. Of course Jon keeps Ghost! They wouldn't deviate from the script that much!

box johnson wrote: My girlfriend was displeased with the large amount of graphic raping that seemed to be occurring.

Tell your girlfriend, that's part of the point. If we compare this to, say, LOTR or whatever, non-Fantasy renderings of (basically) Europe of the Middle Ages, war is often a matter of heroes vs. villains, feudalism is about gallant Sirs swearing fealty to noble and rightful kings, marriages are anachronistically about the love between equals rather than the trafficking of women to secure wealth and political alliances, misogyny, to the point that it exists, is relatively benign, the plight of the poor (in peace and in war) is ignored, the rightfulness of patriarchy is completely unquestioned, and rape — as a form of terror, as marriage, as the general way of things — is nonexistent. Martin's series revisits all of these questions and, in the process, I think, makes some salient points about our modern conceptions of who we are (like who the "We" is that we're imagining in the past) and what our own F(ph)antasies look like. To that end, in some ways, this is sort of a revisionist F(ph)antasy in much the way, say, Unforgiven or The Ugly American are revisionist Westerns.

Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:23 am

Charlie Foxtrot

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 1379
Location: Rochester, NY

icarus502 wrote:
Tell your girlfriend, that's part of the point. If we compare this to, say, LOTR or whatever, non-Fantasy renderings of (basically) Europe of the Middle Ages, war is often a matter of heroes vs. villains, feudalism is about gallant Sirs swearing fealty to noble and rightful kings, marriages are anachronistically about the love between equals rather than the trafficking of women to secure wealth and political alliances, misogyny, to the point that it exists, is relatively benign, the plight of the poor (in peace and in war) is ignored, the rightfulness of patriarchy is completely unquestioned, and rape — as a form of terror, as marriage, as the general way of things — is nonexistent. Martin's series revisits all of these questions and, in the process, I think, makes some salient points about our modern conceptions of who we are (like who the "We" is that we're imagining in the past) and what our own F(ph)antasies look like. To that end, in some ways, this is sort of a revisionist F(ph)antasy in much the way, say, Unforgiven or The Ugly American are revisionist Westerns.

Spoiler Alert

So what's your opinion on the fact that Danaerys eventually falls in love with the guy who's raping her? (And I haven't read the books, but this is what I was told happens.) Isn't that the ultimate male fantasy?

Last edited by Charlie Foxtrot on Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:56 am; edited 1 time in total

Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:18 am

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

NO SPOILERS!

Maybe talk about spoilers in the old book thread? Otherwise people who are just watching the show won't be able to post in this thread

Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:22 am

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

As for feminism in game of thrones, I was pretty intrigued by the aria character who would seem to be butting up against traditional roles in a fantasy setting, and her struggle there is looking pretty interesting in a Mad Men sort of way.

It seems to me the show is kind of like a mad men of the fantasy genre

Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:24 am

icarus502kung-pwn master

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 11291
Location: ann arbor

Charlie Foxtrot wrote:

So what's your opinion on the fact that Danaerys eventually falls in love with the guy who's raping her? (And I haven't read the books, but this is what I was told happens.) Isn't that the ultimate male fantasy?

NO SPOILERS.

Anyhow: Teenaged girl falls for brutish moron, film at 11.

Everybody wants to love. Everyone wants to be loved. Everyone wants to feel like their life has purpose, except for those who don't, who are the scariest people in the world.

Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:17 am

Charlie Foxtrot

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 1379
Location: Rochester, NY

...

Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:55 am

ROTTY

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 1407
Location: London

Flossin wrote: This may seem like a silly question but I can't help it: what happened to the albino direwolf? Did the bastard guy (I don't yet have all their names memorized, sorry) take it with him to the wall?

Ghost does apear in the second episode. There is a wide shot of the camp where the bastard and Dwarf are about to have a conversation and you see ghost sitting there.

Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:24 pm

breakreephomophobic yet curious

Joined: 27 Sep 2004
Posts: 6627
Location: Fifth Jerusalem

Posted for topicality, not agreement. I haven't read the books or seen the show, but I'd like to do both after being introduced to the series in this very thread.